I'm making a cake for my husband for father's day. He's a HUGE Civil War buff.. in fact, we're both reenactors (I just loving the BIG dresses!!). A while back I had asked for ideas for a CW cake for a friend, who ended up just going with a replica of our units flag. But while researching, I came up with the idea for this, I thought for father's day I'd make my hubby a cake resembling his kepi (hat) - see pic. The construction of it is fairly simple, 6" rounds, slight carving to give the slanted look. My only question is how exactly to get the black fondant to be shiny, so that it will look like the bill & strap on the hat.

I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere, so I do apologize if this is a repeat. If someone wants to point me to a previous thread, that would be ok with me!

TIA!!

I would say black fondant with luster dust, disco dust or maybe even edible glitter...you can find the glitter at Micheals and I dunno about the other stuff...if you have a specialty cake store or somethingHTH

any other ideas? I don't have any disco dust or luster dust (well, i have some pearl dust, but i don't think that's gonna work)

nevermind, i ended up using just a little water. my bill turned out more flat than curved up like the pic, but hubby loves it. i'll upload pics shortly

I would use confectioners glaze...

that is what I used on these cups that I made

oh yes.. and this is just one coat... it would be even shinier with 2 or 3 coats

may i ask what is confectioners glaze?? i love the cake my fav. color green..

Thank you

The confectioners glaze is the coating you would find on like M & M's and such to give it a shine..

But you have to becareful when purchasing... Always make sure that it is food grade AND you get the confectioner glaze thinner.. very important.. you can thin down the glaze with this AND you can clean your brush (I just get the cheapy kids brushes when I use this and throw them away.. alot easier) .. I also use it to get it off anything it touches.. it dries very well and sometimes TOO well LOL. Now I will say this.. when opening it doesn't smell very well. But the smell goes away..

here is a source

http://www.intotheoven.com/product_info.php?products_id=1250

I did this shiny black on a graduation cap recently. I mixed a few drops of water with a few drops of Americolor Super Black then painted it on with a paintbrush. It stayed shiny.

Here's the finished cake: http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1232872

I also update the Sand Castle & Beach Ball cakes and a graduation cake from this week.

Thank you wgoat5 ive never heard of it will have to try.learn something everyday..

Thanks for the suggestion and link wgoat5

I made an over easy cake and I wanted the yolk area to have a shiny finish so I used piping gel. I just brushed it on and it dried nice and shiny. If you would like to see it you can check out my piczo site just scroll down.

http://augustbabies2007.piczo.com/lisa(friendtilthend)

Lisa

I just paint on some clear vanilla extract...gives great shine.

Same here, I use confectioners glaze. I love the stuff. I use it also when I mix the hilighter silver and gold to paint stuff with it. It makes is much shinier then the extracts.

Be sure you get cleaner when you order it..it wont clean up with water.
I also use the spray stuff when I am doing leaves and such. (Its too expensive to use on whole cakes)

I know it's too late for you; but maybe those who are following would be interested: rolled buttercream is very shiny!

Did you take a picture of the cake? Please link us to it.

I also use the confectioners glaze. I love it always has a nice shine if you need a less shine you mix 1/2 confectioners glaze and 1/2 confectioners glaze thinner. Great for gumpaste flowers and leaves also.

i thought i had linked, but guess i forgot.. here it is:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1232872

thanks for all the suggestions... i might try confectioners glaze if i have to do something large, but the water worked great.